Hi
ikaros said:
Hi hope somebody can help me I am a british citizen who came to Alberta in July with a six month visa which is still valid. Me and my husband decided to find a lawyer and applied within canada for my residency, we contacted a Lawyer who advised us on filling the forms and send it to Bufalo, after three long weeks they contacted us, letting us know that the application had to be sent to London as I havent been in Canada for a Year. I contacted my lawyer who we are paying for the assistance and he said that unfortunately the papers have to go there and we might get call for an interview. Please help me with this if you know of anything else that can be done. The house is driving me nuts, as without a work permit I cannot get a job. I read on this site that I can apply for an open visa and this would change my status in order to be able to work. If any of you know about this can you please advise and how long does it take.
1. Assuming your spouse sponsored you, the application should have went to Mississauga and if approved it would have been sent to London. To use Buffalo you would have had to be
admitted to Canada for 1 year, not lived. Sounds like your lawyer is not the sharpest tack in the box.
2. If Mississauga approves the sponsorship about 30 days, and the processing time in London is 2-8 months for 80% of spousal applications. If there is an interview, it will be in London.
3. You are not eligible for an open work permit as you are applying "outside Canada", an OWP is only available to "in Canada" spousal applicants once they have received approval in principle, about 5/6 months into the process.
4. The only way you could get a work permit is to find an employer who is able to obtain a Labour Market Opinion from HRSDC that there are no Canadians/PRs available for the job and that it was advertised on the job bank for 2 weeks. If approved, then you would have obtain a work permit outside Canada, at either the Border or a Canadian office in the US.
PMM
